Get a grip on accuracy and distance!

June 12, 2017

Our PGA of Canada Head Golf Professional, Craig Wilkinson, has extensive experience instructing the game and the following is his take on how important your grip is.

When it comes to playing solid, consistent golf, there is no bigger influence than how you place your hands on the club. The fundamental purpose of a proper grip is to allow your club face to return to impact square (pointing at your intended target) without necessitating any power sucking compensation to get there. Hand placement is so important in fact, that a poor grip will often be the root cause for many swing flaws that a golfer may have.

The primary focus of any golfers grip needs to be to hold the grip in the fingers of your top hand. (See the top left picture above) Once you've got the grip in the fingers of your top hand, your next goal should is to get your heel pad (the meaty area between your wrist bone and first pinky knuckle) riding on top of instead of beside the grip and you now should have proper top hand placement. Yes, this change will feel awkward at first but trust me and stick with it!

The next step of course will be to place your bottom hand on the club. Again we are looking to hold the grip in our fingers with grip pressure primarily in the middle two. (see the top center image above) Your palm, if you were to open your hand, should face the target and your thumb placed over where to tip of your index finger sits. (see the larger image to the right above)

In my books the top hand in the larger image above needs to be a touch stronger (turned more to the right) however once you are holding the grip in your fingers and have the heel pad of your top hand sitting on top of the grip, your chances for hitting solid, straight shots are greatly improved.

If you would like to improve your grip or any other part of your game for that matter, please visit the GOLF INSTRUCTION page on our website where you can see what programs Craig offers and even book your lesson right then and there.